Dead City

Written by Joe McKinney

Narrated by Michael Kramer

Texas? Toast.

Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history. Thousands are dead or dying-but the worst is only beginning. Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life-with an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

The nightmare begins . . .

Within hours, the plague has spread all over Texas. San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds his city overrun by a voracious army of the living dead. Along with a small group of survivors, Eddie must fight off the savage horde in a race to save his family.

Hell on Earth.

There's no place to run. No place to hide. The zombie horde is growing as the virus runs more rampant. Eddie knows he has to find a way to destroy these walking horrors . . . but he doesn't know the price he will have to pay.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jun 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452672519

Reviews for Dead City

[Renee Ball · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Decent zombie story! The main character is interesting and the male side characters are good, but the author seems to struggle writing women.

[robineliza_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This starts off a story about the everyday life of an officer. When the dispatcher gives a call about a neighborhood disturbance. The people seem intoxicated ,that is untill the get a really good look. Quickly all hell breaks out. From hurrican disasters to the living dead. This book had me hooked like white on rice people. I couldnt place it down !!! 5 out 5 stars easily P.s Marcus really gave the book some sence of humor . I so can see this as a movie!!

[Alto Diablo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome book, the author and narrator killed it, definitely recommend.

[cynthiae77 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is your typical zombie book. It was a little better than okay, but I wasn't amazed by it either. As with any book, the tone is set within the first couple of chapters. Within the first chapter of Dead City, I didn't know if I would even like the main character. Eddie is a San Antonio police officer who is introduced, in my opinion, somewhat weak. He is on the phone with his wife and she is (excuse my bluntness) a raving bitch. If I were Eddie, I would have fed that woman to the zombies. Yeah, I didn't like the wife at all. As with other zombie novels, there is total devastation and chaos. Eddie witnesses his friends and co-workers being killed. Dead City didn't lack action, but it did lack that extra little something that makes a really great book stand out amongst others of its kind. The book did pick up and interest me a little more when Marcus was introduced. He was funny and made for some interesting scenes. However, it wasn't too long before we were bidding Marcus a somber farewell. The end of the book seemed to tie up way too nicely for me (especially to be part of a series). Overall, I liked this book, but didn't love it. I doubt I will bother reading the other books in the series, but I will probably read more books authored by McKinney. *Book Hollow

[Jennifer R Gordon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. I am not a zombie expert and I was entertained.

[Taylor Wright Allman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

pretty dang good book. i love the end. can't wait to read the rest of the series

[ocgreg34 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The gulf coast of Texas suffers five hurricanes in three weeks, leaving thousands dead and displacing even more. San Antonio was thankfully spared much of the devastation, but even so, Office Eddie Hudson and the rest of the police force face a busy night with the influx of survivors...and something else. During a routine call about a possibly burglary, Eddie and his partner Chris spot a lone woman, disoriented, moving slowly, with something spilled across the front of her shirt. As they watch, a few more people stumble out of a nearby building, with the same slow movements, but they don't notice the officers. Then, Eddie and Chris call out to them, and the group shambles toward them, paying no attention to the officers' calls to stop. They fire bean bags rounds at the advancing group without so much as slowing them down and soon find themselves surrounded.The situation goes from bad to worse when Chris is knocked to the ground by a woman who begins clawing and biting him. With some effort, Eddie frees his partner and they manage to escape for a time. All the while, Chris begins to show signs of sickness and quickly deteriorates. It's only when he dies then comes back to life that Eddie realizes how truly horrific the situation is.Racing against time -- and a horde of the waling dead -- Eddie's only thought as he fights his way across San Antonio is for his wife and newborn son's safety."Dead City" is full of a relentless (and gruesome) zombie goodness. Just when you hope Eddie's safe, more of those slow-moving terrors somehow rat him out of his hiding hole, and you wonder right along with him where the hell they keep coming from. The story moves at an incredibly fast pace, keeping me riveted at this one night in the life of Eddie Hudson trying to reach his family. And I wouldn't want to run into Eddie -- any survivors he found wound up as zombie food.If you're in the mood for a quick zombie fix, this is a great book to satisfy your cravings.

[shanafesta · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What I loved most about this book is the author didn't sugar coat over the gore. Joe McKinney has a fantastically wild imagination and I found myself scared and jumpy the entire time I was reading. He definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

[flying_monkeys_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 3 of 5 Typical zombie fiction: action-packed, moderate gore, fast-paced plot, and so-so character development. For anyone looking for pure entertainment, Dead City would certainly suffice. Side note: This was my first Joe McKinney book.

[ft_ball_fn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Think Die Hard with Zombies. Crazy shooting, crazy escapes... crazy driving, fighting, etc. I read this honestly picturing Bruce Willis as the lead character... it read just like a Die Hard movie to me. Not that I'm complaining... the action is NON STOP and you stay on the edge of your seat until the very end. It grabs you right away and then zoom you're off--in the thick of the action till nearly the last page. Very enjoyable read...  

[angelscryhavoc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For the first time you get the story from a cops position. Zombies not just any kind of zombies but , the kind that are different fast slow, torn apart not torn apart. It all comes together in this book . You feel everything that the cop is going through and you hate it for him. Eddie goes through a night of hell while on shift. Not only does he loose his first partner but it continues on to go that almost everyone he tries to save along with him is lost eventually. While Eddie fights his way through the streets trying to save his own wife and 6 month old son. You see him torn between doing his job as a cop and trying to take care of his own. I loved how that pulled you in it put the hard decisions before him and showed what some people actually go through while in a situation of crisis. The guilt of shooting someone that may or may not be dead in order to save your own life. Deciding whether to stay or go when he arrives at several rescue moments and even when he sees that one rescue area has become compromised struggling to try and save as many of them as he can as well. Good intentions do not go to waste but not every thing goes as it is planned and sad to say that eventually by the end of the night he gets to find his wife and child but not without his own scars and scares. I look forward to reading more seeing how the author fleshes out the scene more in the other two books of this trilogy.

[cdhtenn2k10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a fairly good zombie thriller. I liked the main character. I liked that the zombies were called zombies and not something else because the author doesn't want to acknowledge the existing zombie lore, that there is a zombie nerd who dispenses zombie knowledge gleaned from sitting around on the internet with other nerds fantasizing about the zombie apocalypse (yeah, that's you, fella). I liked the fact that no character was safe, and how the madness of the survivors was just as dangerous as the zombies themselves. The writing is good, and the action is pretty brutal and believable. When the action is fast and flowing the writing really shines. There is some nice character development, and some of the quieter scenes are very effective.I didn't like the repetitive nature of the chase that makes up the body of the story. That went on too long with too many turns, dead ends, and descriptions of turns and dead ends. I understand showing the reader the hopelessness and despair and pure frustration of the situation the main character is in, but there must be a better way to do it that doesn't bore or frustrate the reader.All in all, there were plenty of things I really enjoyed about this book. The main flaws for me were in the structure of the story, and the steps the author took in telling the story. It could have been a little shorter, a little faster paced at times, and that would make one mean book.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first in a trilogy Dead City tells of a zombie-like infection that arises from the flood waters around Huston, Texas. In a matter of days this infection has spread throughout Texas and along the gulf coast. In this first book, the action is set in San Antonio as in a matter of hours the city undergoes a massive infection and the risen zombies outnumber the living. The main character, Eddy Hudson is a policeman and is on his regular patrol duty, his day and night quickly shifts to horror as he fights to survive and reach his family, not knowing their fate.Most of the action takes place over the course of one night, and the action is non-stop. I class this type of thriller as a “popcorn thriller”, one that you just buckle in and go for the ride. A quick read, but a very gory and violent one, so not a book for the delicate or faint-hearted. As zombie stories go, I would class this one as about average, it hasn’t got the staying power of World War Z that lingers in mind long after reading it, neither do the characters appeal as much as the ones in The Walking Dead series.I will be continuing on with the series simply because they are already on my shelves. If I didn’t already own them I probably wouldn’t be in any hurry to continue on. Overall, a basic action thriller, long on action but short on story and character development.

[borumas_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Action packed story with vivid imagery, I read these in the reverse order starting with Apocalypse of the Dead first then reading this one but enjoyed both very much.

[mybookishways · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun book and a fast read. If you're looking for depth, you won't find it here, but if you're in the mood for a fast-paced, fun, zombie read, then this definitely fits the bill! Nice brain candy between "heavier" reads:)

[lesleydawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Got a little tired of the first person point of view and all of the description of which street Eddie's driving down, but all in all, it was a pretty good book. The end was satisfying.

[wova4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dead City is a fairly conventional zombie book, although McKinney's zombies are not dead, merely infected with a necrotic virus. The forward pace of the story is break neck, sparing little downtime for the protagonist, a San Antonio patrolman named Eddie Hudson, or the reader. This makes it a book that can easily be digested in one reading.The patrolman runs into a raft of archetypal disaster-story characters: the hipster expert, the doomed comrade, the manic buddy cop, the sexy news reporter, the mad doctor, and the wise religious savior. Only some of these character reveal development before being fed to the zombie grinding machine.Stylistically, the book is divided into two sections--the first of which is the horror as the Eddie struggles to survive his initial interaction with the zombies and then tries to find someplace where order and safety exist. After Eddie teams up with fellow cop Marcus, the tone shifts into an annoying buddy-cop comedy, culminating in a silly scene where Eddie and Marcus get into an argument more important than dealing with the encroaching mob of zombies. I appreciate a little humor in my zombie stories, but I expect consistency and this shift in tone rang untrue.

[mj_crow_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dead City by Joe McKinney is an action packed zombie novel and a strong first novel. Dead City has all the action you could want out of a zombie book and the main character is pretty well fleshed out. If Dead City has any true weakness, it's the lack of depth in the setting and the story may be a little bit too straight forward. The story follows Eddie, a San Antonio cop, as tries to survive the zombie hordes and tries to get home to his Wife and child. Along the way he has to overcome some hard decisions and at times trust people who he normally wouldn't. Dead City scores big points for action and gore content. The action scenes are exciting; fast paced, and keeps the pages turning. Gore is frequent and vivid. I have heard others say that this would make for a great movie, I have to agree. With the amount of action, the compelling action, and the way each scene cuts away it would make for a great film. Hopefully, some day, we'll see a movie happen. My only reservations about Dead City are that the setting is little blurry, characters beyond the Eddie are weak and it doesn't make you think. There is enough there that nothing seems out of context, but it also left me asking a lot of questions. Eddie is truly a great character, but beyond him, the rest are fairly uninteresting but serve a purpose. This is no philosophical zombie novel, that's for sure. It's not really required for a zombie novel to be a great read, but it is nice when you do read one that gets the brain ticking. These are all pretty minor issues and in fact may not bother many readers at all. In the end Dead City is well worth a read for it's sheer master of action and gore in a zombie novel. I cannot think of a reason why a fan of zombie fiction would be disappointed with this book.

[timdt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you like your zombies fashioned after the slow, shambling, lurching variety and are looking for a good, plain old dead coming back to life novel, look no further. Joe McKinney knows how to spin a post apocalyptic style story. Plenty of gore and action with characters that represent your average citizen put into a dreadful situation. The author even raises a few ethical questions as to how a society should handle such creatures. Don’t worry, there’s no preaching here by the author; just something to think about.If I had a complaint it would be his use of “fast movers” from time to time. Some of the zombies have more physical strength and speed than others which gives his hero more of a challenge in various scenes. This seems to be the sole reason they appear and without a foundation for their existence it comes across as a cheap way to liven up the hero’s struggle for survival. Regardless, I read this over a couple of days (and would have read it in one sitting if my family allowed me) because I couldn’t tear myself away from finding out what happens. Hopefully McKinney will release a new novel soon.

[daedalus18 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book started out pretty well, and was a lot of fun for 150 pages or more - good horror, good realistic loss of companions and so forth. Action movie grade realism. Then, in the last quarter of the book - all logic fell apart. The hero starts making no sense at all and almost everything becomes very far-fetched and inconsistent.The last 50 pages or so are awful - but it was a fun ride for a while, and I wanted to acknowledge that.